Calculation of Transactinide Homolog Isotope Production Reactions Possible with the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The LLNL heavy element group has been investigating the chemical properties of the heaviest elements over the past several years. The properties of the transactinides (elements with Z > 103) are often unknown due to their low production rates and short half-lives, which require lengthy cyclotron irradiations in order to make enough atoms for statistically significant evaluations of their chemistry. In addition, automated chemical methods are often required to perform consistent and rapid chemical separations on the order of minutes for the duration of the experiment, which can last from weeks to months. Separation methods can include extraction chromatography, liquid-liquid extraction, or gas-phase chromatography. Before a lengthy transactinide experiment can be performed at an accelerator, a large amount of preparatory work must be done both to ensure the successful application of the chosen chemical system to the transactinide chemistry problem being addressed, and to evaluate the behavior of the lighter elemental homologs in the same chemical system. Since transactinide chemistry is literally performed on one single atom, its chemical properties cannot be determined from bulk chemical matrices, but instead must be inferred from the behavior of the lighter elements that occur in its chemical group and in those of its neighboring elements. By first studying the lighter group homologs in a particular chemical system, when the same system is applied to the transactinide element under investigation, its decay properties can be directly compared to those of the homologues, thereby allowing an inference of its own chemistry. The Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) includes a 1 MV Tandem accelerator, capable of accelerating light ions such as protons to energies of roughly 15 MeV. By using the CAMS beamline, tracers of transactinide homolog elements can be produced both for development of chemical systems and for evaluation of homolog chemical properties. CAMS also offers an environment for testing these systems 'online' by incorporating automated chemical systems into the beamline so that tracers can be created, transported, and chemically separated all on the shorter timescales required for transactinide experiments. Even though CAMS is limited in the types and energies of ions they can accelerate, there are still a wide variety of reactions that can be performed there with commercially available target materials. The half-lives of these isotopes vary over a range that could be used for both online chemistry (where shorter half-lives are required) and benchtop tracers studies (where longer lived isotopes are preferred). In this document, they present a summary of tracer production reactions that could be performed at CAMS, specifically for online, automated chemical studies. They are from chemical groups four through seven, 13, and 14, which would be appropriate for studies of elements 104-107, 113, and 114. Reactions were selected that had (a) commercially available target material, (b) half-lives long enough for transport from a target chamber to an automated chemistry system, and (c) cross-sections at CAMS available projectile energies that were large enough to produce enough atoms to result in a statistically relevant signal after losses for transport and chemistry were considered. In addition, the resulting product atoms had to decay with an observable gamma-ray using standard Ge gamma-ray detectors. The table includes calculations performed for both metal targets and their corresponding oxides

Development and validation of a piloted simulation of a helicopter and external sling load

A generalized, real time, piloted, visual simulation of a single rotor helicopter, suspension system, and external load is described and validated for the full flight envelope of the U.S. Army CH-54 helicopter and cargo container as an example. The mathematical model described uses modified nonlinear classical rotor theory for both the main rotor and tail rotor, nonlinear fuselage aerodynamics, an elastic suspension system, nonlinear load aerodynamics, and a loadground contact model. The implementation of the mathematical model on a large digital computing system is described, and validation of the simulation is discussed. The mathematical model is validated by comparing measured flight data with simulated data, by comparing linearized system matrices, eigenvalues, and eigenvectors with manufacturers' data, and by the subjective comparison of handling characteristics by experienced pilots. A visual landing display system for use in simulation which generates the pilot's forward looking real world display was examined and a special head up, down looking load/landing zone display is described

High energy neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the Sun

Neutralino annihilations in the Sun to weak boson and top quark pairs lead to high-energy neutrinos that can be detected by the IceCube and KM3 experiments in the search for neutralino dark matter. We calculate the neutrino signals from real and virtual WW, ZZ, Zh, and $t \bar t$ production and decays, accounting for the spin-dependences of the matrix elements, which can have important influences on the neutrino energy spectra. We take into account neutrino propagation including neutrino oscillations, matter-resonance, absorption, and nu_tau regeneration effects in the Sun and evaluate the neutrino flux at the Earth. We concentrate on the compelling Focus Point (FP) region of the supergravity model that reproduces the observed dark matter relic density. For the FP region, the lightest neutralino has a large bino-higgsino mixture that leads to a high neutrino flux and the spin-dependent neutralino capture rate in the Sun is enhanced by 10^3 over the spin-independent rate. For the standard estimate of neutralino captures, the muon signal rates in IceCube are identifiable over the atmospheric neutrino background for neutralino masses above M_Z up to 400 GeV.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures and 5 tables, PRD versio

The HAL 9000 Planning Engine Design and Operational Requirements

No abstract availabl

Structure–activity relationship study of 2,4-diaminothiazoles as Cdk5/p25 kinase inhibitors

Cdk5/p25 has emerged as a principle therapeutic target for numerous acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. A structure–activity relationship study of 2,4-diaminothiazole inhibitors revealed that increased Cdk5/p25 inhibitory activity could be accomplished by incorporating pyridines on the 2-amino group and addition of substituents to the 2- or 3-position of the phenyl ketone moiety. Interpretation of the SAR results for many of the analogs was aided through in silico docking with Cdk5/p25 and calculating protein hydrations sites using WaterMap. Finally, improved in vitro mouse microsomal stability was also achieved

Come to Daddy? Claiming Chris Cunningham for British Art Cinema

Twenty years after he came to prominence via a series of provocative, ground-breaking music videos, Chris Cunningham remains a troubling, elusive figure within British visual culture. His output – which includes short films, advertisements, art gallery commissions, installations, music production and a touring multi-screen live performance – is relatively slim, and his seemingly slow work rate (and tendency to leave projects uncompleted or unreleased) has been a frustration for fans and commentators, particularly those who hoped he would channel his interests and talents into a full-length ‘feature’ film project. There has been a diverse critical response to his musical sensitivity, his associations with UK electronica culture – and the Warp label in particular – his working relationship with Aphex Twin, his importance within the history of the pop video and his deployment of transgressive, suggestive imagery involving mutated, traumatised or robotic bodies. However, this article makes a claim for placing Cunningham within discourses of British art cinema. It proposes that the many contradictions that define and animate Cunningham's work – narrative versus abstraction, political engagement versus surrealism, sincerity versus provocation, commerce versus experimentation, art versus craft, a ‘British’ sensibility versus a transnational one – are also those that typify a particular terrain of British film culture that falls awkwardly between populism and experimentalism

Gamma Ray Lines from a Universal Extra Dimension

Indirect Dark Matter searches are based on the observation of secondary particles produced by the annihilation or decay of Dark Matter. Among them, gamma-rays are perhaps the most promising messengers, as they do not suffer deflection or absorption on Galactic scales, so their observation would directly reveal the position and the energy spectrum of the emitting source. Here, we study the detailed gamma-ray energy spectrum of Kaluza--Klein Dark Matter in a theory with 5 Universal Extra Dimensions. We focus in particular on the two body annihilation of Dark Matter particles into a photon and another particle, which produces monochromatic photons, resulting in a line in the energy spectrum of gamma rays. Previous calculations in the context of the five dimensional UED model have computed the line signal from annihilations into \gamma \gamma, but we extend these results to include \gamma Z and \gamma H final states. We find that these spectral lines are subdominant compared to the predicted \gamma \gamma signal, but they would be important as follow-up signals in the event of the observation of the \gamma \gamma line, in order to distinguish the 5d UED model from other theoretical scenarios.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

Outcomes of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury following congenital heart surgery: A contemporary experience.

OBJECTIVE: Injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve can lead to significant morbidity during congenital cardiac surgery. The objective is to expand on the limited understanding of the severity and recovery of this iatrogenic condition. DESIGN: A six-year retrospective review of all congenital heart operations at a single institution from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2013 was performed. All patients with documented vocal cord paralysis on laryngoscopic examination comprised the study cohort. Evaluation of time to vocal cord recovery and need for further surgical intervention was the primary focus. RESULTS: The incidence of post-operative vocal cord paralysis was 1.1% (32 out of 3036 patients; 95% confidence interval: 0.7-1.5%). The majority were left-sided injuries (71%). Overall rate of recovery was 61% with a median time of 10 months in those who recovered, and a total follow up of 46 months. Due to feeding complications, 45% of patients required gastrostomy tube after the injury, and these patients were found to have longer duration of post-operative days of intubation (median 10 vs. 5 days, p = 0.03), ICU length of stay (50 vs. 8 days, p = 0.002), and hospital length of stay (92 vs. 41 days, p = 0.01). No pre-operative variables were identified as predictive of recovery or need for gastrostomy placement. CONCLUSION: Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury is a serious complication of congenital heart surgery that impacts post-operative morbidity, in some cases leading to a need for further intervention, in particular, gastrostomy tube placement. A prospective, multi-center study is needed to fully evaluate factors that influence severity and time to recovery

TeV physics and the Planck scale

Supersymmetry is one of the best motivated possibilities for new physics at the TeV scale. However, both concrete string constructions and phenomenological considerations suggest the possibility that the physics at the TeV scale could be more complicated than the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), e.g., due to extended gauge symmetries, new vector-like supermultiplets with non-standard SU(2)xU(1) assignments, and extended Higgs sectors. We briefly comment on some of these possibilities, and discuss in more detail the class of extensions of the MSSM involving an additional standard model singlet field. The latter provides a solution to the $\mu$ problem, and allows significant modifications of the MSSM in the Higgs and neutralino sectors, with important consequences for collider physics, cold dark matter, and electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. To appear in New Journal of Physic

Neutron time-of-flight measurements of charged-particle energy loss in inertial confinement fusion plasmas

Neutron spectra from secondary ^{3}H(d,n)α reactions produced by an implosion of a deuterium-gas capsule at the National Ignition Facility have been measured with order-of-magnitude improvements in statistics and resolution over past experiments. These new data and their sensitivity to the energy loss of fast tritons emitted from thermal ^{2}H(d,p)^{3}H reactions enable the first statistically significant investigation of charged-particle stopping via the emitted neutron spectrum. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, constrained to match a number of observables from the implosion, were used to predict the neutron spectra while employing two different energy loss models. This analysis represents the first test of stopping models under inertial confinement fusion conditions, covering plasma temperatures of k_{B}T≈1-4  keV and particle densities of n≈(12-2)×10^{24}  cm^{-3}. Under these conditions, we find significant deviations of our data from a theory employing classical collisions whereas the theory including quantum diffraction agrees with our data